US Presidential Elections 2008 (2 Viewers)

[pete]

http://openthread.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/21034/4861/159/579549

 

[killy kill]

http://openthread.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/29/21034/4861/159/579549

gas. he'll have her gone in the next 6 weeks if this is the shape of shit to come

 

[jane]

I'd like to thank the spitting mental for giving me a ten-minute, firesputtering lecture on being a babykiller yesterday. Because wearing an Obama button is EXACTLY THE SAME THING as performing late-term abortions on Grafton Street. Maybe worse.

Thanks, fuckface.

Christ almighty.

ANYWAY, Sarah Palin. Ro, I dunno whom he should have chosen, since he's John McCain and he's more evil than evil itself. But she's Dick Cheney with a hairdo, and minus any experience.

If he wanted to choose a woman, there are plenty of more experienced Republican women who would have been much better picks. Elizabeth Dole, Kay Bailey Hutchinson -- maybe a little too old to balance out his age.

This woman, who is actually....kinda cool in some ways (sadly, her support for aul folks not so great): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Todd_Whitman
Christy Whitman is about as close as you can get to being a Democrat. She wouldn't take the job, and she'd be wasted as the VP. The VP pick is mostly like choosing a totem animal: doesn't do much, just represents how you think your unseen qualities should look to others. It only matters during the election, really, although the veep has a congressional veto.

So women still wouldn't vote for him just because of Whitman because the VP doesn't actually do enough once in office. Because you'd still be voting for McCain. And she would probably resign within about two days of being anywhere near him and his bullshit ideas, since she already quit the EPA because she refused to help kill people.

I know he's worried about losing the far right, but who else are they going to vote for? What he needs are swing voters, and Whitman is pro-choice, pro-doing-shit-about-global-warming, and a rather better type of maverick than yer wan who just uses her position to fire people she doesn't like.

Basically, any of the real maverick, cool Republican women (and there are some, many of whom have run as republicans because if they'd run as dems, the republicans would tear them to shreds) have already resigned from their posts.

There are 'good' choices, who would make strong leaders who wouldn't cause the suffering of millions of people. In other words, they would be people who, regardless of affiliation, you might even trust -- in so far as you can trust any politician -- but they wouldn't put up with the bullshit.

Of course, that would maybe take some votes from the Dems, so for the democrats, strategically, a weak choice is a good choice. If they win, we're all fucking fucked, though.

And to suggest she has real experience is a fucking insult to the other women in the Republican party, who have worked their way up and have a lot more day-to-day experience. It's an insult because it gives the Republicans a fucking human shield, where they can accuse all critics of sexism whenever they say anything about her, which is funny because their accusations of tokenism (which aren't true) they have now done for themselves. They can do exactly what they're always accusing the left of doing. It's probably a good thing, in a way, because we can finally demonstrate that what we do is not fricking PC tokenism, it's just trying to stand up for social justice. What they are already doing is trying to use someone's gender to accuse other people of not being PC enough. It's sad.

But Christy Whitman, if she would have accepted, could have been pushed as McCain's version of Al Gore. It wouldn't have been strictly true, but it would have fooled some people, and if she had ended up in the Oval Office, I might not be 100% comfortable, but I'd be a hell of a lot less uncomfortable than with a lot of the others.

 

[7 - No tomorrow]

McCain needed a proper god-botherer to shore up his ticket.
Biden just needs to mention abortion a few times in his debate with Palin to remind any hardline Clintoniks what's on offer here.


Whitman was about as likeable as Republicans come but I think she's done with electoral politics since the EPA.
Hottest governor ever?
You could certainly make the case.

 

[jane]

McCain needed a proper god-botherer to shore up his ticket.
Biden just needs to mention abortion a few times in his debate with Palin to remind any hardline Clintoniks what's on offer here.


Whitman was about as likeable as Republicans come but I think she's done with electoral politics since the EPA.
Hottest governor ever?
You could certainly make the case.

See, I'm not sure he needed a fundy. The republicans are not going to vote for Obama anyway, so he'd have been smarter to pick someone closer to the centre, to pick up the swing voters.

And that was my point, about the 'maverick' thing. The real anti-corruption republicans wouldn't take the job -- that should tell everyone something about republicans who don't resign and shun politics forever.

Good point about the VP debates.

 

[pete]

An Open Letter to God, from Michael Moore
Sunday, August 31st, 2008

Dear God,

The other night, the Rev. James Dobson's ministry asked all believers to pray for a storm on Thursday night so that the Obama acceptance speech outdoors in Denver would have to be cancelled.

I see that You have answered Rev. Dobson's prayers -- except the storm You have sent to earth is not over Denver, but on its way to New Orleans! In fact, You have scheduled it to hit Louisiana at exactly the moment that George W. Bush is to deliver his speech at the Republican National Convention.

Now, heavenly Father, we all know You have a great sense of humor and impeccable timing. To send a hurricane on the third anniversary of the Katrina disaster AND right at the beginning of the Republican Convention was, at first blush, a stroke of divine irony. I don't blame You, I know You're angry that the Republicans tried to blame YOU for Katrina by calling it an "Act of God" -- when the truth was that the hurricane itself caused few casualties in New Orleans. Over a thousand people died because of the mistakes and neglect caused by humans, not You.

Some of us tried to help after Katrina hit, while Bush ate cake with McCain and twiddled his thumbs. I closed my office in New York and sent my entire staff down to New Orleans to help. I asked people on my website to contribute to the relief effort I organized -- and I ended up sending over two million dollars in donations, food, water, and supplies (collected from thousands of fans) to New Orleans while Bush's FEMA ice trucks were still driving around Maine three weeks later.

But this past Thursday night, the Washington Post reported that the Republicans had begun making plans to possibly postpone the convention. The AP had reported that there were no shelters set up in New Orleans for this storm, and that the levee repairs have not been adequate. In other words, as the great Ronald Reagan would say, "There you go again!"

So the last thing John McCain and the Republicans needed was to have a split-screen on TVs across America: one side with Bush and McCain partying in St. Paul, and on the other side of the screen, live footage of their Republican administration screwing up once again while New Orleans drowns.

So, yes, You have scared the Jesus, Mary and Joseph out of them, and more than a few million of your followers tip their hats to You.

But now it appears that You haven't been having just a little fun with Bush & Co. It appears that Hurricane Gustav is truly heading to New Orleans and the Gulf coast. We hear You, O Lord, loud and clear, just as we did when Rev. Falwell said You made 9/11 happen because of all those gays and abortions. We beseech You, O Merciful One, not to punish us again as Pat Robertson said You did by giving us Katrina because of America's "wholesale slaughter of unborn children." His sentiments were echoed by other Republicans in 2005.

So this is my plea to you: Don't do this to Louisiana again. The Republicans got your message. They are scrambling and doing the best they can to get planes, trains and buses to New Orleans so that everyone can get out. They haven't sent the entire Louisiana National Guard to Iraq this time -- they are already patrolling the city streets.

And, in a nod to I don't know what, Bush's head of FEMA has named a man to help manage the federal government's response. His name is W. Michael Moore. I kid you not, heavenly Father. They have sent a man with both my name AND W's to help save the Gulf Coast.

So please God, let the storm die out at sea. It's done enough damage already. If you do this one favor for me, I promise not to invoke your name again. I'll leave that to the followers of Rev. Dobson and to those gathering this week in St. Paul.

Your faithful servant and former seminarian,
Michael Moore
[email protected]
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. To all of God's fellow children who are reading this, the city New Orleans has not yet recovered from Katrina. Please click here for a list of things you can do to help our brothers and sisters on the Gulf Coast. And, if you do live along the Gulf Coast, please take all necessary safety precautions immediately.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will not attend the GOP convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, because of Hurricane Gustav, White House press secretary Dana Perino said Sunday.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/31/rnc.gustav/index.html

 

[the strange guy]

She won't need to worry about abortion anymore.
Not now she's undergone the change.
She's a total GILF.

 

[MDR]

She won't need to worry about abortion anymore.
Not now she's undergone the change.
She's a total GILF.

Governor I'd Like to F**k?

 

[Diddles]

I can't say this often enough. She's a

 

[the strange guy]

Governor I'd Like to F**k?

Granny I'd like to fuck.

 

[Goff]

Granny I'd like to fuck.

Grand pins, but she's in tats. Born a man, be the looks of the head.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I was born a man meself.

 

[billygannon]

Mrs. Coulter?

 

[jane]

JESUS CHRIST, THE REPUBLICANS ARE TRYING TO BREAK THE FUCKING INTERNET:

First there was the secret grandmother rumour, which I wasn't particularly fond of, since it wasn't fair on the teenage daughter and it detracted from the real reasons Palin is a crazy:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...r-youngest-son-new-dirty-tricks-campaign.html

(PS: Also check out the Palin college pic about her boobies, although again, she was in college, and she's creepy enough in her recent life not to make it necessary to dredge up shit from when she wasn't anywhere near old enough to think about running for public office. Still. HA!)

But now, they are trying to fucking break the internet forever, make no mistake:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CVN_PALIN_DAUGHTER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

WHAT NEXT?

 

[ITalkShite]

Yeah, what's the story with this 'secret granny' thing?

 

[the strange guy]

SGILF?

 

[ITalkShite]

SGILF?

You couldn't make this shit up:

The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday, in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.

This is all some elaborate joke, right?

More here, and all over the intertubes.

 

[jane]

Yeah, what's the story with this 'secret granny' thing?

Some rumour came out yesterday or the day before that the youngest of Palin's babies was actually her own granddaughter, and she was covering up a teenage pregnancy. She didn't look pregnant at all, apparently, and hadn't made the announcement to her colleagues until she was about 7 months along -- and still wasn't really showing.

Cue photos of her from Super Tuesday, looking decidedly trim. Then other photos of her in which she looks pregnant. Then stories, more rumours, hearsay and further speculation, including about the poor teenage girl's belly size, complete with close-up photos of her belly fat (SRSLY). Then speculation on how Sarah Palin did/didn't do whatever things during her pregnancy, and everyone arguing over what she should/shouldn't have done. Ironic, I guess, since the pro-choice reflex in me says, "A woman's body is not a public forum!" and yet, she is not pro-choice, and so maybe that doesn't bother her.

Anyway, lot of people thought the teenage pregnancy thing was pretty poor form because, you know, those are kids (because there's still the baby, too young to understand any of this, in addition to having Down Syndrome) and they didn't choose who their mom was going to be, and that just doesn't seem cool. I don't care who she is, a teenage girl having her belly fat make international news -- that's gotta fuck you up. I hope she was so busy praising Jesus that she didn't notice.

Plus, it detracts from the real reasons she's kind of a sad-bordering-on-scary choice when there were other, more qualified people, even if McCain did want to pick a woman on principle.

The fact is, she comes from a state with oil. Oil America thinks it needs. There is plenty of scope within the campaign for some asshole to make people think that if Obama gets in, that precious Alaskan oil (which would be a disaster to drill, of course) would be lost forever to a pissed-off Republican governor.

She doesn't believe in reproductive choice, evolution, gunlessness, or global warming. That she might strike some people as the kind of woman who would cover up her own daughter's pregnancy is the least of anyone's worries, and also tickles many people's lowbrow bones. It's kind of too tempting not to at least mention, but it's srsly gon 2 brk teh internets.

Anyway, so basically, they HAVE been hiding something, and that's that the eldest daughter is indeed pregnant. So the rumour was half-true: there is a teenage pregnancy, but it's more likely that the youngest baby is Sarah Palin's own. This is a new baby from the Alaskan Baby Refinery. And Governor Palin gets to use that shotgun for something more than just shooting wolves out of a helicopter.

 

[jane]

This is all some elaborate joke, right?

No, I'm telling you, they are trying to crash the internet, FO REALS.

 

[ITalkShite]

Some rumour came out yesterday or the day before that the youngest of Palin's babies was actually her own granddaughter, and she was covering up a teenage pregnancy. She didn't look pregnant at all, apparently, and hadn't made the announcement to her colleagues until she was about 7 months along -- and still wasn't really showing.

Cue photos of her from Super Tuesday, looking decidedly trim. Then other photos of her in which she looks pregnant. Then stories, more rumours, hearsay and further speculation, including about the poor teenage girl's belly size, complete with close-up photos of her belly fat (SRSLY). Then speculation on how Sarah Palin did/didn't do whatever things during her pregnancy, and everyone arguing over what she should/shouldn't have done. Ironic, I guess, since the pro-choice reflex in me says, "A woman's body is not a public forum!" and yet, she is not pro-choice, and so maybe that doesn't bother her.

Anyway, lot of people thought the teenage pregnancy thing was pretty poor form because, you know, those are kids (because there's still the baby, too young to understand any of this, in addition to having Down Syndrome) and they didn't choose who their mom was going to be, and that just doesn't seem cool. I don't care who she is, a teenage girl having her belly fat make international news -- that's gotta fuck you up. I hope she was so busy praising Jesus that she didn't notice.

Plus, it detracts from the real reasons she's kind of a sad-bordering-on-scary choice when there were other, more qualified people, even if McCain did want to pick a woman on principle.

The fact is, she comes from a state with oil. Oil America thinks it needs. There is plenty of scope within the campaign for some asshole to make people think that if Obama gets in, that precious Alaskan oil (which would be a disaster to drill, of course) would be lost forever to a pissed-off Republican governor.

She doesn't believe in reproductive choice, evolution, gunlessness, or global warming. That she might strike some people as the kind of woman who would cover up her own daughter's pregnancy is the least of anyone's worries, and also tickles many people's lowbrow bones. It's kind of too tempting not to at least mention, but it's srsly gon 2 brk teh internets.

Anyway, so basically, they HAVE been hiding something, and that's that the eldest daughter is indeed pregnant. So the rumour was half-true: there is a teenage pregnancy, but it's more likely that the youngest baby is Sarah Palin's own.

Thanks for the party-political broadcast. I was more thinking about the practical news-cycle effect it'll have on the election.

Seems to me that Gustav + Pregnancy has effectively killed the momentum that the Republican National Convention otherwise would have given McCain. Not sure though.

 

[jane]

Thanks for the party-political broadcast. I was more thinking about the practical news-cycle effect it'll have on the election.

Seems to me that Gustav + Pregnancy has effectively killed the momentum that the Republican National Convention otherwise would have given McCain. Not sure though.

Well, I was summarising the debates. Be more specific if you want something specific, instead of being a dick when someone answers your question and making me feel like my input isn't even welcome if it isn't going to be exactly what you want, in exactly as few words as you would like.

The news-cycle effect is just that, though: the debate is taking over the internet, and is a handy distraction for both sides, which is a bit shit.

As for the convention, the Republicans were trying to play it down because there's no way they can top the Dems mega-revival in Denver. They were bordering on having to pay homeless people to fill seats, I think, and Cheney and Bush were looking for reasons not to go. They're pretending that Gustav is the reason, even though it's not, and Gustav has been downgraded. This is a good excuse for why it's not gonna be so good.

It's been useful for them, too, to have the Hurricane, and to make it look like they care more about the country than the Democrats do. To go, "Oh, how could we do this big party at such a time!" Political manoevring is all it is.